National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân meets visiting Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Hà Nội on Friday. — VNA/VNS Photo Trọng Đức

HÀ NỘI — On Friday, National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân said the Vietnamese legislature supports the strong development of ties with Australia, a partner with increasingly important stature in the Asia-Pacific region and the world.

During a meeting with visiting Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Hà Nội, Ngân expressed her belief that with annual average economic growth of between 2.5 and 3.5 per cent, Australia would succeed in building a multicultural, modern and prosperous country and making contributions to peace, stability and development in the region and the world.

She noted that bilateral ties were growing, especially in trade and investment with two-way trade of US$7.7 billion last year, up 19.3 per cent year on year. The figure for the first half of this year was $3.84 billion.

As of June 2019, Australian investors had poured $1.86 billion into 458 projects, ranking 20th among the 136 countries and territories investing in Việt Nam.

The host said the Vietnamese NA has valued the Australian parliament’s support to successfully organise recent international and regional inter-parliamentary conferences, including the 26th Annual Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF-26) held in January last year.

PM Morrison said links between the two legislatures had become increasingly effective.

He emphasised that Australia supports Việt Nam its role as the Chair of ASEAN and Chair of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly next year.

On the East Sea issue, host and guest reiterated the importance of the continued settling of disputes by peaceful means, avoiding threatening or use of force and in line with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The top Vietnamese legislator thanked the Australian government for creating favourable conditions for the more than 300,000 Vietnamese people living and working there. More than 30,000 Vietnamese students are now studying in Australia.

More than 380,000 Australian tourists visited Vietnam last year.

NA Chairwoman Ngân suggested Morrison offer all possible support to Vietnamese aviation firms. — VNS